POPULAR SCIENCE REVIEW. 
312 
Macaulay's New Zealander be at all of a scientific turn of mind, 
these herring-bone beds will supply him with an ample field 
for speculation ! 
It has been much debated whether the herring deposits its 
spawn upon sandy or stony bottoms. Some say in the latter; 
others (and especially those who object to trawling as injurious 
to the interests of herring-fisheries) assert that the former 
variety of sea-bottom is the one selected. On this point we 
have some very valuable evidence. Professor Allman's investi- 
gations into the character of the spawning-beds show us that 
the sandy bottoms (the only ones accessible to trawlers) never 
contain a particle of spawn, and that on the rocky and stony 
grounds the ova are deposited in the greatest abundance. He 
observes : * “It will be borne in mind that the only locality 
where any trace of spawn was met with, was in the neighbour- 
hood of the May — on ground, in fact, which, in consequence of 
its rockiness, is never frequented by trawlers." Another 
naturalist f writing on the subject of the B allant r as spawning- 
beds, which are some of the most important in the kingdom, 
states : “ We went over it very carefully with an oyster-dredge 
during the better part of several days, ever and anon bringing 
up to the surface a portion of the natural bed or shingle of 
which it was composed, for minute examination. Over large 
tracts there was scarcely a stone or a pebble, from the size of 
a cracked nut to a cherry-stone, that was not covered and in- 
crusted at least over all its upper or exposed surface, with a 
coating of eggs, forming a widely- diffused, but by no means 
thickened mass of ova, as the sands by the sea-shore innumer- 
able." A good deal has been said about the vitality of the 
spawn being destroyed by the detachment of the ova. The 
vitality is much greater than has been imagined ; for Professor 
Allman* states that specimens of ova underwent development 
in his aquaria after their removal from the sea-bed ; nay, even 
though they had been kept for many hours in a scanty supply 
of water before he received them. Few facts in the natural 
history of the herring are so pregnant with interest as this one. 
We know now, that this valuable fish can be introduced into 
waters to which it has been up to the present a comparative 
stranger. Is not this a lesson for those who would develop the 
Irish herring-fisheries ? 
The enemies of the herring are legion, and embrace members 
of thethreegreat vertebrate classes, — mammals, birds, and fishes. 
* “Report” to the Board of Fisheries, upon the examination of the 
spawning-beds of the Firth of Forth. 
f “Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine,” 1856, p. 524. 
